Reid debating Keystone vote

Senate Democrats are trying to negotiate a vote to approve the Keystone XL pipeline as soon as next week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday.

Reid said he is “open to anything” on Keystone that will move forward an energy efficiency bill written by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio). The most likely option is to hold a standalone vote, pro-Keystone vote next week, rather than as an amendment to the Shaheen-Portman bill.

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But the largest question remains unsettled: Whether to make the vote a binding one or a toothless “Sense of the Senate” resolution. Democrats debated those options during their caucus lunch on Tuesday and Reid has met this week with Portman as well as Keystone backers Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) in an effort to strike a deal.

“Originally it was going to be a sense of the Senate. Now they can’t decide what they want to vote on. So I can’t agree to something that I don’t know what it is,” Reid said. “Now they want an up-or-down [vote] on a piece of legislation. They can’t decide what it is.”

Pressed on whether he would allow a binding vote, Reid said: “I’m open to anything that will move energy efficiency.”

To Republicans there is no option other than a binding vote forcing congressional approval of the pipeline. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Republicans want “a real Keystone amendment” and are “not interested’ in a non-binding Sense of the Senate resolution.

“We actually ought to have a vote that matters,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 in GOP leadership.

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairwoman Landrieu was bullish on holding a vote on a stand-alone pro-Keystone measure, calling it “not a done deal” but likely. Still, Landrieu was equivocal when asked whether the measure will officially approve the pipeline rather than merely express support for the project.

Hoeven and other pro-Keystone lawmakers are working behind the scenes to determine how many votes they can secure for a measure approving the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. It’s unlikely that the measure would gain the 67 votes necessary to overcome a presidential veto.

“I think we’re at a point where we’ve got north of 55 votes, where people are definitely going to vote with us. Then there’s another seven or so votes that may be with us depending on what we work out. And that’s why this is all subject to discussion,” Hoeven sAlsoaid.

Hoeven is likely counting on all 11 Senate Democrats that recently signed a letter to Obama asking him to approve the pipeline by the end of May. That included several Democrats seeking reelection in mostly Republican-leaning states: Landrieu, Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mark Warner of Virginia and John Walsh of Montana.

The remaining Democrats Hoeven is targeting include six that weren’t on that letter but voted last year for his non-binding language supporting the project. Those Democrats are Delaware’s Tom Carper and Chris Coons, Bill Nelson of Florida, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.

Carper, Coons and Bennet were among those last year opposing an effort to have a binding vote approving the project, arguing they didn’t want to trump the process. It’s unclear whether anyone’s mind has changed now that the Obama administration has signaled another delay on a final decision until at least early next year.